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Wenn Sie mehr erfahren möchten, schauen Sie bei uns La mer | Jeux herein: lso.co.uk Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune Valery Gergiev LSO0692 London Symphony Orchestra Claude Debussy (1862–1918) Claude Debussy (1862–1918) As to the stature of the work, we may listen and choose for Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1892) ourselves along the scale between Boulez’s claim that ‘modern Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1892) music was awoken by it’, and Saint-Saëns’s that it ‘contains not Debussy began work on his Prélude, interludes et paraphrase the slightest musical idea in the true sense of the word’. The La mer (1903–05) finale pour l’après-midi d’un faune in 1892, inspired by sound world is essentially a pastoral one, fashioned out of the Mallarmé’s poem L’après-midi d’un faune. At this time he was sonorities of flute, horn and two harps, with much-divided strings Jeux (1913) a close friend of Mallarmé, being one of the intimates of his providing for the most part a warm, cushioning background. Valery Gergiev London Symphony Orchestra Tuesday circle which included many of the Parisian intellectuals of the period. Mallarmé first intended L’après-midi to be given Programme note © Roger Nichols on the stage, but this did not happen until after his death, Roger Nichols is a freelance writer, editor and pianist with a when Diaghilev caused a scandal with a ballet set to Debussy’s special interest in French music. He was made a Chevalier 1 Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune * 11’46’’ music. Mallarmé’s own revisions to the poem, made between of the Legion of Honour in 2006. (Gareth Davies, flute) 1865 and 1876, if anything, reduced the work’s suitability for the theatre, at least as a spoken work. He declared that his ideal of poetry was ‘suggested by music proper, which we La mer ** must raid and paraphrase if our own music, struck dumb, Claude Debussy (1862–1918) 2 De l’aube à midi sur la mer (Très lent) – 10’00’’ is insufficient’. La mer: Three Symphonic Sketches (1903–05) 3 Jeux de vagues (Allegro) – 7’10’’ In spite of such admitted links with music, Debussy had no It has been said that La mer is the first great example of 4 Dialogue du vent et de la mer (Animé et tumultueux) 8’21’’ great confidence in his own ability to deal with the poem. musical ‘Impressionism’ in our classical heritage, but it is In a letter of 1893 he wrote that he had played the Prélude also much more than that, both in relation to Debussy’s own 5 Jeux *** 18’50’’ on the piano to an admiring friend, but went on to lament, personality and to the later development of composition ‘Here I am, already 31, still not sure of where I’m going and techniques. Pierre Boulez, for instance, has described it as still with things to learn (like how to write masterpieces …)’. ‘inaugurating a new and extremely personal type of sonorous 56’07’’ Total time universe, new in colour as in mobility’. The poem charts the progress of the faun’s erotic fantasies in the afternoon heat. Though Debussy insisted his work gave The sources for its ideas are many and varied. Pictorial only ‘a general impression’ of the poem, he admitted to a associations are obviously strong, though less with correspondence between the last five bars and the last line ‘Impressionistic’ techniques as such than with the dream- of the poem – ‘Couple, farewell! I go to see the shadow you like images of Turner (who roused Debussy’s enthusiasm in became’. The opening flute solo, too, may credibly be related advance of the painter’s wider popularity). One should also to a line in the middle of the poem, ‘Une sonore, vaine et remember the example of Cézanne in demonstrating that monotone ligne’: ‘sonore’, because the opening C sharp on the even shadows are composed of colours; and the spirit of flute, although it is the instrument’s open note, was always Hokusai, a reproduction of whose Wave decorated the cover Recorded live *12 & 19 May 2010, **20 & 24 September 2009 and ***13 & 18 December 2009 naturally out of tune on French flutes of the period, and of La mer on its first publication. ‘Music has this over painting’, at the Barbican, London rectifying this produced a peculiarly veiled and distant colouring; Debussy wrote, ‘it can bring together all manner of variations James Mallinson producer ‘vaine et monotone’ because of the repetition of the opening in colour and light as they continually change in time’. Classic Sound Ltd recording, editing and mastering facilities phrase and the feeling, common to the whole piece and to Neil Hutchinson and Jonathan Stokes for Classic Sound Ltd balance engineers much of Debussy’s music, that movement from one idea to To these factors may be added the composer’s Proustian Jonathan Stokes and Neil Hutchinson for Classic Sound Ltd audio editors the next is dictated not by stern logic but merely by a passing inclinations in the reconstruction of time through forgotten whim – ‘mon plaisir’, as he once called it. dreams and aspirations. During the composition of La mer he Includes multi-channel 5.1 and stereo mixes. wrote to the conductor and composer André Messager: I was Hybrid–SACD Compatible with all CD players. Includes high density stereo and surround tracks that can be read by SACD players. destined for the fine life of a sailor … I still have a great passion SACD, DSD and their logos are trademarks of Sony. 3 for the sea. You will say that the ocean does not exactly wash Programme note © Noël Goodwin the Ballets Russes in 1912. But the harmonies are fresh January 1908. The composer’s troubled domestic life did not the hills of Burgundy, and that what I am doing might be like Noël Goodwin was a reviewer for The Times for 20 years. He and distinctive, and the way Jeux grows as a maze of short, affect the quality of his work, with such magnificent scores painting landscapes in a studio. But I have an endless store is a freelance writer with a special interest in the relationship interconnected, constantly changing musical phrases sounds as La mer for large orchestra and the first set of Images for of memories, which I consider are worth more than reality.’ of dance and music, contributing to major works of musical so spontaneous that its originality only sinks in after a while. piano produced during this period. Debussy’s ballet Jeux was and general reference including the New Dictionary of National Although mainly in a fairly agile triple time, the music is first performed by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in May 1913, a The composition was begun at Bichain in Burgundy in the Biography published in 2008. constantly shifting in pace and colour. So continuously does fortnight before the première of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. summer of 1903, but it was not finished until early in 1905, it evolve from one moment to the next that the literal return Although suffering from cancer, he managed to complete and first performed in Paris on 15 October that year. Dates of music from the opening, right at the end, comes as a slight the first three of a projected set of six instrumental sonatas. noted by the composer contradict the suggestion that he shock. One thing has stayed the same while all around it has He died at his Paris home and was buried at Passy cemetery. completed it on a visit to Eastbourne, also in 1905 (and where, Claude Debussy (1862–1918) changed, in a voyage of discovery that takes place as much he observed, ‘the sea displays itself with a correctness truly Jeux – poème dansé (1913) in the music as in the storyline. Profile © Andrew Stewart British’). And it is the sea alone, unaffected by human elements, Andrew Stewart is a freelance music journalist and writer. that he portrays in his Symphonic Sketches – these are sketches One of Debussy’s most enticingly scored, light-footed, quick- Programme note © Robert Maycock He is the author of The LSO at 90, and contributes to a wide in the sense of pictorial images and symphonic only in matters moving creations, Jeux belongs to the select group of early Robert Maycock writes about music for The Independent and variety of specialist classical music publications.